2006-11-19 20:00:47 · 7 answers · asked by Jennifer 5 in Science & Mathematics ➔ Astronomy & Space
The Hubble Space telescope's maximum resolution is such that an entire Apollo landing site and exploration area are only 1/20th of a pixel. Hubble was designed with deep space astronomy in mind.
Even the new OWL telescope (see Link 1) would only resolve the entire site to 2 pixels and would therefore not be enough to see the flag.
If your question is to prove that man actually walked on the moon then you need look no further than the Laser Reflector Experiment which constantly laser measures the distance between earth and moon. If the astronauts had never made it to the moon, they would not have been able to deploy these reflectors. (see Link 2)
2006-11-19 22:56:20 · answer #1 · answered by the_lipsiot 7 · 2⤊ 0⤋
Any earth-bound telescope can see the places where the U.S. landed on the moon. However, we do not have any telescopes with the resolving power -- not even the Hubble -- to be able to see a 1-inch diameter vertical pole from nearly a quarter-million miles away.
The Hubble is the most powerful optical telescope made by man, and has a resolution of about 0.1 arc-second. That means that, at a distance of ¼ million miles, is can resolve an object about 30 meters in diameter. The largest piece of equipment we left on the moon is the bottom half of the lander -- which is about 4 meters across. So, the biggest thing we left on the moon is less than one-seventh of a pixel on the CCD cameras used to record the pictures. And there's no possible way to distinguish a one-inch diameter flagpole. QED.
2006-11-20 05:07:01 · answer #2 · answered by Dave_Stark 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
The flag and everything else left on the moon is too small to see with a telescope.
2006-11-19 23:28:56 · answer #3 · answered by bldudas 4 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Remember that the moon is 1/3 the size of earth (that's pretty big), but it only looks about the size of a quarter (at best). I'm sure you could see it if you could purchase priceless 30m telescope time from NASA (although you still couldn't see the side that isn't facing the earth).
Edit: Astronauts did leave a device to accurately bounce a laser back to earth, and it is being used to measure the moon's distance from earth very accurately. Unfortunately, once again, it would require specialized equipment for you to actually do this, and it's unlikely that you'll find it at Wall-Mart.
2006-11-19 20:31:46 · answer #4 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋
No, the flag is too small. Infact, the moon is just like the size of a tooth from here with a telescope.
2006-11-19 20:09:18 · answer #5 · answered by ? 4 · 1⤊ 0⤋
It would be absolutely impossible to see any man made object left on the moon. Even with the hubble space telescope you wouldnt be able to see anything. The objects are just far to small and the moon just too far away.
2006-11-19 21:21:31 · answer #6 · answered by Pete 2 · 1⤊ 0⤋
i don't think so.
A flag is too small to be viewed through a telescope.
2006-11-19 20:04:43 · answer #7 · answered by yogen p 2 · 1⤊ 0⤋